Kansas University junior basketball guard Brady Morningstar has been suspended for the first semester by coach Bill Self. Enlarge video

Kansas University junior basketball guard Brady Morningstar has been suspended for the first semester by coach Bill Self.

Self informed Morningstar of the penalty Saturday afternoon, several hours after Morningstar was arrested by the Kansas Highway Patrol on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.

“We are aware of the situation,” Self said. “We are also still fact finding. Regardless of the details that concern the reason for him being stopped, he broke team rules that have been much more stringent since last week (following fights between KU basketball and football players).

“Brady was in serious violation of curfew,” Self added of Morningstar, who was stopped in the westbound lanes of the Kansas Turnpike at mile marker 205, just east of the East Lawrence interchange. He was arrested and booked into the Douglas County Jail at 3:42 a.m. He was released on $250 bond at 6:01 a.m.

“Because of that and his extremely poor judgment last night, I have decided to suspend him for the first semester from all competition and travel. Brady will remain a member of our team and will participate in all other team functions. We will support him through this, but needless to say I am very disappointed in the sequence of events that took place last night.”

Self said it was not a difficult decision to suspend Morningstar, who started 34 of KU’s 35 games last season.

“I haven’t had much fun the last 10 days or so dealing with incidents you shouldn’t have to deal with ... basically a few of our guys exercising poor judgment,” Self told the Journal-World. “Of course Brady’s judgment last night was very poor for multiple reasons and so it was not a hard decision to do what we did at all.

“I like Brady. I think he is a good person. I think he is a very good player and he will be welcomed back to us second semester if in fact he is able to conduct his business right and handle this in a way it should be handled.”

Morningstar will be able to practice, but not be eligible to play in a game until mid-December.

“I think Brady can still have an impact. I told Brady today and he knows this ... he has to figure out some way where this helps his life,” Self said. “On the surface, you don’t see that being the case, but usually people that are tough and winners, they figure out a way to use negatives to their advantage over time.

“This is certainly not a short-term advantage by any means. I do think he’ll do a good job with that. I will not say positively what will be the end result because like I told him today, you have to prove it to yourself, your family, to me, to your teammates, to a lot of people before we are going to reward you to have you out there wearing a Kansas uniform.”

He said Morningstar’s reaction “is what you would expect it to be. He is very down about what happened. He is very remorseful. He feels like he’s let a lot of people down, but on the flip side he had a chance to make much better decisions last night so he wouldn’t have to feel this way. I feel bad for him because he’s hurting, but I don’t feel bad at all about the punishment.”

Self said the Jayhawk players were aware that — since the incidents with the football team — “we’ve had some rules in place that were probably more stringent than what they were prior to the incident last week. Our guys knew the importance of making sure they comply with those regulations and Brady did not do so.”

The 6-foot-3 Morningstar averaged 6.5 points and 3.0 rebounds per game last season. He was second on the team in minutes played (30.4) and generally regarded as KU’s best perimeter defender.

“I think we’ve got good players. I think we’ve got depth,” Self said. “Am I disappointed we don’t have a full complement of guys to start? Absolutely, but we are playing to win in the end. I don’t see how this will deter that. We’ve got some young guys and an opportunity for them to maybe step in and maybe have a bigger role than what they might have if we had a full complement of guys. Sometimes when the door is open for somebody else, they take advantage of it.”

“I thought it was a pretty gloomy day today. It’s not ... it’s a great day,” Self said in a speech to fans. “You get here and see a lot of KU faithful, a lot of fans that really unconditionally love their school and teams. I’m very proud of that.

“We had a situation with our football team ... the biggest situation with our football team is we are proud of them,” Self added to loud applause. “There have been a lot of reports of this or that ... well, here’s the report. We are very happy for their success. I know things have to bounce right, it’s a strangely shaped ball, but if it bounces right we could find ourselves in the exact same place we were two years ago (BCS bowl).”

Self also asked the fans for their support in packing the fieldhouse for the Oct. 16 Late Night in the Phog. KU will be on the start of fall break that night.

“Without reservation I can say this is the best basketball arena in the country not only to play at, but with all the fan amenities you will be so proud of in there. You will all be excited about that,” he added of new concessions and wider concourses in Allen Fieldhouse.

This is a prime example of the LJWorlds inability to follow their own policy. They continually state they will not print the names of those arrested unless there has been a conviction. Unless, it benefits them! Now, I want to know why they printed Morningstar’s name? Because maybe all the other newspapers will be printing the story! LJWorld is a JOKE.

We make exceptions to the policy not infrequently, based on notoriety or other circumstances. Policies act only as guidelines, not as laws. Virtually all other media outlets share this policy with us.

We are one of the only outlets with such a strict policy on sex offenses, but very few media outlets name people who haven't been charged — except in particular cases, like this one. Be happy to discuss the policy further if you'd like.

The LJW should print the name of every DUI/DWI that blows the limit or refuses. The courts should end the program of diversions and license buy-backs. The caseload of a typical attorney in Lawrence is 50% DUI/DWIs. Why? Because these drivers get third (and fourth and fifth) chances way too often.

If a drunk hits you or someone you love, causing property damage, injury or worse, wouldn't you be combing his record to find out if he's been let off before, and how many times, to find the LEOs (from cop to judge and every person in between) responsible for allowing a serial drunk back on the street?

DUIs should be a permanent part of every driving record: no diversions, no "driver's ed" classes, and no payoffs to keep a drunk's record clean. It's just wrong to let these drunks continue to endanger the public. Same for cell-phone junkies. Get them off the road.

I have learned that Jayhawk Taxi is a great way to travel safely in Lawrence after a night on the town. I know there's another Taxi in town as well. Is Saferide still available throughout the school year for KU students and if so, is Saferide available for Haskell students as well? Maybe the LJWorld and the Daily Kansan could do more to inform the public about what transportation organizations are available in the Lawrence area to promote responsible modes of transportation after an evening on the town.

I agree about the taxis being very convenient to utilize. Just this past week I was a little snookered so I called Jayhawk Taxi. Unfortunately they had a 2 hour wait for a cab. (It was about 4 am) So I called the other cab company, GCI, and they picked me up within 15 minutes.

My one complaint is that it is a flat fee for one person ($8 for Jayhawk, $10 for CGI) for the entire city. Plus tip and that's pretty pricey if you are only going a few miles. The taxis NEED to be metered in a town of this size.

I don't claim to know what it would take to get this accomplished. But I'm sure I would definitely take cabs a lot more often if I knew I was paying based on the mileage I was traveling.

I think the Journal work flexes their policies whenever they fill like they should get credit for a national story. It's a shame that sex offenders get more protection from the journal world than a KU student.

The journal world lacks any ethics and somehow continues to recieve awards. Would anyone else hear be interested in contacting the Journal Associations that the LJworld belongs to and to complain about the ethic violations of the ljworlds own policies?

Free Tip to Youngsters of the World: If providence should shine upon you, the stars align, or whatever, such that you have the opportunity to do something like playing basketball at KU, sit down and promise yourself that you will forego behavior that is contrary to your success in that opportunity until it is over. In other words, if you get a chance like this, don't screw it up; if you want to start brawls or get drunk and careen down the road, you can do that FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. You have a window of 4 or 5 years to enjoy the combination of nature and circumstance that puts you on the court. When it's over, you'll have 40 or 50 years to do all the stuff the coach tells you not to do.
It's amazing that as they come into the period of serious preparation for the season, a KU basketball player is drinking at all, yet less driving drunk in the middle of the night. What part of any of that is not contrary to all the hard work you have done to put yourself in the position to play an important part on a possible championship team? Sheesh! Mere selfishness should dictate that you get your rear home to bed, sober.
Grow up, grow a brain, grow a backbone, for God's sake, or get the hell out and give someone a chance that will appreciate it.

DUI or DWI . . . call it whatever you want to call it, but in Kansas there is no DWI statute, there is only - "K.S.A. 8-1567: Driving under influence of alcohol or drugs."

Municipal codes may use DWI language. LEOs may even refer in arrest records and reports to a "DWI" specifically when alcohol is the alleged influencing chemical. When charged under state law in Kansas, however, they are all considered alleged violations of K.S.A. 8-1567: DUI.

It does not appear from the Kansas Dept. of Transportation website that there is any actual difference between a DUI and a DWI in the state of Kansas when alcohol is involved.

The Kansas laws and penalties are referred to a DUI laws.
The term DWI is used when referring to the kits that officers are given that allow them to determine a person's blood alcohol content at the time of the traffic stop.

As these kits can only measure alcohol levels, and not drug levels which could also be part of a DUI offense they are not called DUI kits.

Thus an officer using a DWI kit could write a ticket for DWI or DUI and it would be interchageable as far as alcohol is concerned.

While Kansas DUI laws do allow stiffer penalties for a BAC of .15 or over, there is no mention of this being the basis for writing the ticket as DWI vs DUI.

The Ks Dept. of Transportation website does not list any specific laws or penalties under the DWI heading.

On a personal note, I am very disappointed in Mr. Morningstar's actions, whether on the heals of the recent brawls, or at anytime. Driving while impaired kills too many Kansans each year to be acceptable in this day and age.

we all make mistakes, you live and you learn...but what awful timing. not that there is ever a good time to be arrested for anything, let alone DWI, but this coming on the heels of the KU vs. KU fisticuffs makes it a tough time to be a Jayhawk...

From a team perspective, this will be the result. The Henry brothers were almost certain to see plenty of playing time this season, but Morningstar, because of his experience in the system, had an early advantage. Now that advantage has been wiped out, and his minutes for the remainder of the season are probably going to be substantially lower.

You're right, it would have made much more since to suspend him for an entire season for what is right now just a violation of team rules (curfew I am guessing). That sounds completely fair and balanced parrothead8.

You are really under appreciating the significance of being suspended for an entire semester.

I am very disappointed in Coach Self's response. If it wasn't for Roger, Brady would have been immediately suspended from the team. I hope the student athletes read our comments. You need to stop putting our wonderful university in such a negative light. Stay home, stay away from women while in season, avoid alcohol, and smoke your weed in moderation off campus so you smoke and focus on winning an NCAA title. After the last few weeks, KUAC should request private security or handlers or call them (academic advisers like Oklahoma and Texas does) for our bball players so we can avoid this negative publicity. Brady is shady.

Senegal, sounds like he violated some serious team rules regardless of whether or not he was actually guilty. Like some others have said, better that he gets suspended for a semester rather than killing someone. He will be seriously missed for Memphis & UCLA. What a Dumba$$

I think what Bill said is that Morningafter is guilty of being out on the Turnpike in the middle of the night getting arrested, in the week after the Thug Wars, when strict limits have been put in place and all parties have been duly warned. Of that, Morningafter is guilty, whether he is guilty of DUI or not (those KHP Troopers are just so sloppy when it comes to DUI cases!?!?).
This should have been the response to Thug Wars, too, at least after the first round or two.

infidel: "Innocent until proven guilty," being a legal phrase, does apply in Lawrence. It is applied daily in the Lawrence Municipal Court and the Douglas County District Court. However, it is not applied, and never should be applied, in the court of public opinion. Ya know, because it is just that...an OPINION. Regarding KU's actions, they were based on Morningstar's breach of team rules, not on its independent conclusion that he broke the law.

Although unnecessary to justify one's opinion, I think the probable cause needed to arrest Morningstar in the first place gives us commenters more than enough info to form our own opinion.

This is a very unfortunate incident, and is a seriuosly irresponsible act by an athlete representing the university. It is especially disheartening that it comes after the events of last week and after what must have been a stern warning and rules change by his coach.

Evidently warnings may not work for athletes at my alma mater. So, zero tolerance is called for and coach Self should dismiss Mr. Morningstar from the team immediately to make an example out of him. Even that may not work, but it is worth a try.

For those of us who actually have to pay money for a KU education, I am glad to see that these guys who get a free ride are finally being delt with. If you get your tuition paid for, then you have to play by a different set of rules. If you can't play by those rules, then you should leave.

good job Coach. Great Leaders step up and take action. Self is a example of this. I don't think it would matter if it was Sherron or Cole, and example would have been made of anyone, in light of the recent events. I hope none of the above posters have received a DUI or DWI. Sadly I have. Sadly I also know that DUI or DWI offenders aren't normally first time offenders. Every time you make it home "safely" you get a little more cocky. I hope Brady learns the same lesson I did. Let the stone continue...

What Ralphralph said: running around all night in the wake of Thugwars and getting a DWI is just brainless.
Brady's lucky that he didn't get jettisoned from the program completely. NCAA D1 full ride scholarships are hard to come by...

The investigations into the fights are ongoing. I am sure at some point some heads will roll.

Brady,
Your behavior is inexcusable. You are luck Self did not kick you off the team permanently.

I bet the team got a stern talking to today. From what I read, Lew Perkins was very unhappy over the fighting. If Brady is convicted, you can better believe that things will tighten down a whole lot. We will not know what but you can believe it will happen.

hbjayhawk... do you mean babysitters? Because that is exactly what they need.

At least he is being held accountabe for his actions. After last week, I'm surprised he was even arrested. What happened to the KU/Lawrence athletic policy that boot camp equals justice for crimes committed?

There are so many simplistic comments on this board I don't know where to start. People really need to separate public courts of law with the rules of the KU Men's Basketball Team. There's only one judge, jury and executioner: Coach Self. It doesn't matter if Brady hasn't been tried yet. I'm sure he and Self talked before the punishment was handed down. It makes sense for the LJW to name names because a
player was suspended - newsworthy by itself - and that story can't be run without a reason why.

Also, this conjecture about what would have happened to a bigger star like Reesing or Collins is pointless. Stay out of unknown predictions.

tigerforlife: How can you comment after the Detroit connection MU had for years and the goons like Grimm, Sutherland, and the mess Quinn brought along. There is no-doubt that Self needs to clean-up the BB program here to regain respectability.

Has anybody took a thought that pressure goes back ages like his childhood who knows but him and he may eventually talk. I don't condone what he did but he is human and alcohol is an out for some. What is yours and is it ethical or immoral?

And why do people only say that someone's being "human" when they screw up? When someone does something generous, noble, kind, or self-sacrificing, I never hear that they're being "human," but of course they are.

"You're right, it would have made much more since to suspend him for an entire season for what is right now just a violation of team rules (curfew I am guessing). That sounds completely fair and balanced parrothead8."

I don't recall anywhere in my post suggesting that he be suspended for the entire season, Eride. Perhaps you could show where I wrote that?

"You are really under appreciating the significance of being suspended for an entire semester."

No, actually, I'm not, because he isn't suspended for the entire semester. The semester is almost at the halfway point now, so he's actually only suspended for part of a semester. And what does he miss? Some travel and a few non-games. He still practices with the team, and the time he doesn't spend traveling will, I'm sure, be spent studying extra hard.

Number of meaningful games scheduled before December 18: 2, vs. Memphis on 11/17 and vs. UCLA on 12/6.

Number of Big 12 games scheduled before December 18: 0.

Effectiveness of suspension: Your call."

That was your post. He was suspended a definite amount of time... a semester... and you decided to call out the appropriateness of limiting his suspension to that "unit" of time. What was I supposed to assume you found was appropriate? Should he have been suspended half way through the Big XII schedule? Until the start of the Big XII tournament? A whole year? How can you call me out for my comment. You obviously implied a suspension for the definite amount of time (this semester) as not being enough and I called you out on that being unreasonable.

The AD said that an extra $100,000.00 donation will make everything right and the athletic department will keep you on the alumni invite list. They'll keep sending some business your way, too. How soon can you send them a check?

Youth is wasted on the wrong people! And laughingatallofu, he's on a scholarship at a state school with a high profile basketball program which gives him advantages that thousands of other young people will never have. Hell yes we get to throw stones, dumb kid needs to wake up!

No jumpin catfish, you're wrong. EVERYONE gets advantages that thousands of people will never have. And EVERYONE (except you, apparently) makes mistakes.

I wish I was a pure as the driven snow as you are, jumpin. Go ahead and tell me that you've never done anything that you regretted, or that you did something that pissed away a gift that was given to YOU and you alone. It must be nice to sit in that chair all by yourself.

Local support says,
"My one complaint is that it is a flat fee for one person ($8 for Jayhawk, $10 for CGI) for the entire city. Plus tip and that's pretty pricey if you are only going a few miles. The taxis NEED to be metered in a town of this size. "

Local Support, $15-$20 for a taxi is a small price to pay compared to the fees, court costs, etc of a DWI, not to mention the price you make others pay along with yourself if you hurt or kill someone while drunk driving.

I am the biggest Morningstar hater out there. Even before this I thought that he was going to be lucky to see 5 minutes a game this year... and everyone killed me for saying that Saint Bradey was going to lose all of his playing time to the Henry brothers and Eliajh... I hope none of you got hurt jumping off the Morningstar bandwagon...

What is really funny about this situation and the fights last week is that all of the Ku players that everyone spent so much time defending last spring and this summer as being good guys great examples of team players are the ones that are bringing bad press to the Univeristy and the Henry brothers who everyone was killing as being headline hunting primadona's are nowhere to be seen in any of the stories.

Wow cg,
have you ever met Morningstar? Have you ever sat and had a chat with the man or are you one of those posers who sits in front of the TV saying things like, "I hate the Broncos", or, "I hate Nebraska"?
Get a life.

Gutsy move coach? I agree with others that say the suspension wouldn't be near as long if it was a potential starter. Morningstar not expected to start made this an easy thing for Self to do. A semester is way to long. Same lesson could be sent by 3-5 games. Betcha it wouldn't be a semester if the name was Henry or Collins.

"I wonder if Self would have suspended Sherron Collins, or one of the other team stars. I seriously doubt it"

I don't. I believe Coach would suspend anyone for this, regardless of 'star status'. And while Brady's not a superstar, he started 34 of 35 games last year for a heck of a team. If you think he's not influential enough you're sorely mistaken.

Get a real life, tigerforbrains. How pathetic you must be to log on to a rival's string just to heckle. However, I imagine most of us appreciate your reinforcing the level of classlessness we've come to expect from Missouri fans. Well done you.

"sorry, beaks…i shouldn't pile on in what has to be the worst week of your pathetic lives, spending six days knowing a final four beat down by the coach who spurned you awaits.now, your current coach is going to leave, and this time it will be for oklahoma friggin state…ouch.stay classy ku"

Right before a mysterious absence that lasted almost 9 months, if I recall correctly. Might have my numbers off a bit.

I think that you misunderstood my point.
I do not have anything personally against Brady; I just think that he is vastly overrated as a basketball player, and the only reason that he played last year was that we did not have a better option. During the spring and the summer when everyone was killing the Henry brothers and saying that Brady was still going to get the lion share of playing time I contended that he would be back to riding the bench. Well now everyone who argued Brady was what KU basketball was supposed to be about and how he was going to outwork everyone are now killing him for his mistake.

IMO he made a mistake that far to many KIDS make, and that is what he is a KID.

hey laughin boy when I screw throw all the stones you want, I can take it. He's an adult and I'll take any shot I want to, he's not off limits, Self isn't off limits, nobody on that team is off limits and drinkin and drivein kills people all the time so as I said the dumb kid needs to wake up before he hurts himself or someone else. I got NO pity for folks who drink and drive, NONE!

"I just think that he is vastly overrated as a basketball player, and the only reason that he played last year was that we did not have a better option."

What??????...How can he be the best option and be overrated? And who overrated him? The coaching staff? Or some where in that pea brain of yours you thought he was better than he was?
He did exactly what was needed. The kid truly screwed up but don't disregard his skills on the court or the value he added to last years young team..

Why shouldn't I call you out for your comment, Eride? You're the one who singled me out by name first. I suppose I should simply turn the other cheek?

The reason I wrote "your call" in my initial comment was to hopefully introduce a little more thoughtfulness into the discussion. Rather than people simply jumping to gut-level reactions, I thought some facts might be pertinent to the discussion. I implied nothing other than that. You interpreted what you wanted to interpret, based on your personal feelings of the situation. Interestingly, nobody else seemed to interpret my comments the way you did.

If you want my personal feelings on the subject, here goes:
I hope the kid didn't drink and drive, but I believe he probably did.
I think the kid deserves further punishment, but I believe that whatever he incurs from this point forward should come from the legal system, not Coach Self.
I hope the kid learns from this mistake, and I think he will reflect on it a bit, but I also think many of the lessons he could learn from this will be forgotten as soon as he gets back into a game.
I don't think the kid is a bad person because of what he did, but I think he did something pretty stupid.

tigerforlife and jonas: Laughed at the quote from Tiger back in April 2008. Tiger is doing anything to soothe his feelings while trying to whip up on the Hawks. Some facts might awaken the old Tiger, now suffering from the Reesing-Meyer 2008 play of the year in Arrowhead.

Bill needs to command more respect, not be one of the guys. Suspending Morningstar is a beginning (albeit no big penalty) but he needs to put his foot down on these guys and make them buck up! I'm tired of hearing about their poor behavior, and you know school is at the bottom of their priority list, too.

Perhaps if you all knew all the facts, you would be more understanding. Hopefully they will all come out in due time. I can't believe how many of you forget that here in these United States a person is innocent until proven guilty. Most of you probably have never even met Brady and have no idea what kind of person he is. And if all you of are without mistakes in your life, then more power to you. I know I am not and therefore will not judge.